Serology, virulence and molecular characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from seafood in Zhejiang province

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 4;13(10):e0204892. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204892. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a leading foodborne pathogen in southeastern China. In this study, 105 strains of V. parahaemolyticus were isolated from fresh seafood in 2013 and 2014. The serotypes, virulence-associated genes and sequence types (STs) of these strains were analyzed. 26 defined serotypes were identified and 69 strains (65.7%) had untypeable O or K antigen. 8 strains (7.6%) had the virulence-associated gene tdh and no strain carried the trh gene. 45.7% (48/105) of isolates contained all four T3SS1 genes and 50% (4/8) tdh+ trh- V. parahaemolyticus isolates lacked at least one of the four tested T3SS2α genes. 105 strains could be categorized into 84 STs and only 3 STs (ST3, ST8, ST675) had appeared in clinical strains. V. parahaemolyticus strains from seafood have more diverse and untypeable serotypes, less virulence-associated genes and more STs than strains from clinical sources.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antigens, Bacterial / analysis*
  • Bacterial Typing Techniques / veterinary
  • China
  • Humans
  • Multilocus Sequence Typing / veterinary
  • Seafood / microbiology*
  • Vibrio Infections / epidemiology
  • Vibrio Infections / veterinary
  • Vibrio parahaemolyticus / classification*
  • Vibrio parahaemolyticus / genetics
  • Vibrio parahaemolyticus / immunology
  • Vibrio parahaemolyticus / pathogenicity
  • Virulence Factors / genetics*

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Virulence Factors

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Key Programs for Infectious Diseases of China (2012ZX10004210, 2017ZX10103008)(YC,XC).The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.